Now, I did mention a BioWare-esque RPG setup. This is prevalent throughout the game, and it’s kind of neat. Taking up certain quests (like say, remagicking the famed sword Excalibur, for instance) requires you to lead a Knight and his army to the quest, then go through the dialogue pages. What disappoints me is that there are no cutscenes or voice acting to accompany these RPG moments, but that is just indie gaming and not a big deal. But the way the RPG segments are written really pull you out of the game, and these RPG moments lose their effect. I’ll give an example below:
“A kitten is stuck in a tree. It says to you – “Rescue me, Sir Bo, and I shall give you hairballs of greatest wonder!”
That stuff is fine, but the replies are really what take you out of the game:
“I tell the kitten to run away from my fury. I am too dangerous a knight.
OR
“I tell the kitten that I understand, and I save him from the tree.”
Now this might have been a choice by the devs to create a tabletop-like setup on your PC, which explains the general slowness of the combat and the difficulty of the AI. But the point of tabletop gaming is to play it on your tabletop with other human beings.
Computer/console gaming is a bit of a different animal. Tabletop replies (although bringing great joy to the tabletop gamer set) cannot really fit into a game that is supposed to immerse you into this world of Knights, swords, and lusty Arthurian wenches. It actually has an adverse effect in this usage. A good example of the correct usage of tabletop gaming in a console/PC game is Mass Effect, or even Final Fantasy Tactics.
